Demolition sector needs right mix of experience and dynamism to carry it forward.
Before we begin, let me state for the record that I know there are older members of the demolition industry that can drive an iPad and who use a smartphone to conduct their business. I also know that there are some younger members of the demolition fraternity that have crammed a great deal of experience into a relatively short working career.
Now that we’ve got that straight, let me get to the central point of this article: it takes too long to scale the demolition industry ladder to a point of any real authority.
Within a company organisation, demolition contractors are remarkably good at following the ethos espoused in team sport circles: If someone is good enough, they’re old enough. Thanks in part to a long-established process of internal promotion, continuing professional development and more than a hint of nepotism, it is not unusual to find someone in their 30s holding a senior position within a major demolition company.
And yet this is generally not the case within the various national organisations that steer the industry.
The UK’s National Federation of Demolition Contractors probably has the best track record in this respect. When John Wring and David Darsey were elected presidents, both were in their early 40s and brought with them more than a little youthful enthusiasm to counterbalance their industry experience. But to reach those heady heights, both had been on a decade-long journey through regional and national committees. While this undoubtedly ensured that both had “earned their stripes” by the time they wore their chains of office, it also ensured that both had entered their fourth decade when they did so.
On the face of it, this is an entirely positive thing. Let’s face it, no-one is going to elect a twenty-something with virtually no life experience to the position of US president. And while the role of president of a demolition association or federation carries with a little bit less responsibility than that of POTUS, the same applies in our industry circles. It is an unwritten rule that you must have spent 20+ years on site, ideally starting behind the levers of an excavator, before you can even begin your journey to the top of the industry ladder.
But should that unwritten rule still apply in this fast-moving, computer-powered, social media savvy age of ours?
Sure, there remains a valid argument that an individual that has wielded a sledge-hammer, operated an excavator, and seen his hair fashioned into the shape of a hard hat by the passage of time brings a certain industry empathy to the role. But we now live in an age in which business is conducted by email, not over 12 pints in a local pub. We live in an age when traditional Yellow Pages advertisements have been superseded by video-playing websites. We live in an age when the cholesterol-packed full English breakfast and mugs of tea with six spoons of sugar has been (partially) replaced by muesli and anti-oxidant green tea.
As I mentioned at the beginning of this piece, I am well aware that there are certain elder statesmen of the demolition business for whom Facebook is not a passing fad but a valuable communication tool, who send iPhone emails to and from site on a regular basis, and who have been known to eat something other than bacon for breakfast. But few would claim to be as tech-savvy as their teenage children or the 22-year old guy who runs their company’s IT resources.
Moving forward, it will be vital for the demolition industry to reflect these paradigm shifts if the sector is to keep pace with the technological and social changes taking place around it. And while, in this instance at least, the children might not be our future, a sprinkling of youthful dynamism is likely to be a vital ingredient.
